Huizenga Avoids Spotlight By Using Hands-off Method

That's the public perception Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga is finding as the team goes through its worst season in more than three decades.

Since gaining complete ownership of the team in 1994, Huizenga has preferred to stay out of the spotlight, earning high praise as the Dolphins were winning. Yet when a team is reeling, the "hands-off owner" characterization takes on a pejorative connotation, as fans seek scapegoats and answers, while demanding the owner get involved.

Just as, when the Dallas Cowboys slip, many call for "hands-on" owner Jerry Jones to step back.

Which style is best? It's not easy to tell, as all kinds of owners have won, from Georgia Frontiere, who delegates and works behind the scenes as owner of the NFL's St. Louis Rams, to George Steinbrenner, the headline-grabbing boss of the New York Yankees.

Huizenga, who has not spoken publicly since meeting with Dave Wannstedt on Nov. 15, after which the coach stepped aside, is aware of current public sentiment and doesn't appear ready to change. Last month, he reminded a reporter and frustrated fans that he has never claimed to know sports.

"I've never tried to pretend that that's my business," Huizenga said. "I try to hire people over there and let them run it. Sometimes when I read your sportswriters, they think it's good that the owner doesn't get involved. Sometimes they change their thoughts and say, `Why doesn't he get involved and do something?'"

Team president Eddie Jones, a Dolphins executive during all of Huizenga's tenure, insists the owner is involved when needed, saying that while reluctant to step in too frequently, Huizenga "understands when he needs to. He is not timid at all."

With coach and president searches in progress, Jones expects the owner to "have a little different focus, because we are in transition, and some of the decisions will be critical for our future. He will be more hands-on. And that's a good thing. Because he's a good decision-maker."

During the general manager search last offseason, Huizenga appeared at team headquarters more than at any other point in recent memory, participating in interviews set up by Jones and Chief Operating Officer Bryan Wiedmeier.

Even if this latest search compels Huizenga to further increase his profile, Jones envisions the owner's overriding business philosophy remaining unchanged. Picking people to run things. Giving them "every possible resource." Not setting boundaries. Saying "Go for it."

"He sets the bar real high," Jones said. "You know what he expects. He often says, `The only way we're going to go is first class.'"

Jones added that just because Huizenga isn't on the practice field daily isn't indicative of a lack of interest. Nor do occasional visits prove panic.

"He's right down the street," Jones said, laughing. "When he has something to say, he picks up the phone and says it, or comes over and says it."

One respected former NFL executive, former Packers General Manager Ron Wolf, says Huizenga is admired league-wide.

"A very attractive thing is who the owner is there in Miami, because he has a magnificent reputation for not getting involved," said Wolf, who flirted with a Dolphins position earlier this year. "I'm sure that's why he's a successful businessman. He hires people to do what has to get done."

Three types of owners

Eddie Jones classifies owners into three basic categories -- those who stay away, those with a say in everything, and those who are present but not overly vocal.

Sometimes, though, owners even leave their category for a brief time.

That's what happened when Paul Allen, the world's fifth-richest person, and among the more reticent, signed hats and struck up conversations as fans streamed through Rose Garden turnstiles for the Trail Blazers' season opener two weeks ago.

Allen's accessibility was a calculated decision, part of an ongoing plan to put a new face on his basketball franchise that, rocked by off-court scandal, had lost its cachet in Portland.

After hearing the team "Jail Blazers" for too long, and reviewing the market research, the Microsoft co-founder apparently decided the face should be his. So Allen, who also owns the NFL's Seattle Seahawks, started making more appearances with sponsors for the team he has owned since 1988, while surprising the media with several lengthy interviews.

"It certainly is a change in style," said Harry Hutt, a former Trail Blazers executive. "For a long time, Paul Allen was behind the scenes, wasn't visible. When you reach a point where there needs to be a 180 [degree] turn to be successful, that's where you, the owner, pretty much have to lead the charge, and bring the franchise where you want it, whether you like it or not. That's the point where you can't leave it to other people. You're the man."